What are you doing on New Year’s Eve? For many parents, we know that babysitters are in high demand so watching the Times Square ball drop on t.v. might be more common for most of us than dressing up and hitting the town for champagne toasts. But celebrating the New Year is certainly worthy of some exciting plans for all, and thanks to the City of Austin, you’re in for an awesome, family-friendly free night of fun on Sunday, Dec. 31. Austin’s New Year is an annual alcohol-free celebration with a variety of art, food trucks and live music. The event begins at 3 p.m. at Vic Mathias Shores (formerly known as Auditorium Shores) with a fireworks finale at 10 p.m.!

This year’s event will be bigger than ever with four stages, 22 local and regional bands, food trucks, kid’s activities and multiple art installations.

Live music runs from 3 – 10 p.m. with bands such as Brownout, Ian Moore Band, Charlie Faye & the Fayettes, Tomar and the FCs, and many more. You can click here to view the full music schedule.

Children will have plenty of activities to choose from in the Kid’s Magic Forest. Some highlights include:

• Kiddie Express Train – A trackless train complete with a smokestack, bell and whistle
• Fairyland — An interactive space that will keep growing throughout the day to create a magical fairy world
• Austin Bike Zoo – Giant butterfly and owl bikes that both light up at night
• DarkStack Media Light Show – An interactive liquid light show where kids and adults create colorful backgrounds on a giant screen
• A Giant Austin Pinata – This big pinata was created just for Austin’s New Year by local artists Monica and Sergio Lejarazu

What’s an Austin event without a variety of food trucks? You can count on finding a lot of delicious food and drink options. Click here to see the lineup of vendors.

And to really add some spark in this New Year’s Eve celebration, there will be a fireworks finale starting at 10 p.m.

Before you go, you’ll want to check out this handy page of FAQs for specifics about parking and transportation options, as well as the list of what you can and cannot bring.

For much more info, please visit austinsnewyear.com. 

We can’t wait to ring in 2018 with the Austin community! See you there!